Spain: Navarre Parliament Holds Exhibition “Western Sahara: 49 Perspectives, One Hope”

The President of the Parliament of Navarre, Unai Hualde, inaugurated on Tuesday an art exhibition titled “Western Sahara: 49 Perspectives, One Hope” documenting five decades of Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, with a view to shedding light on the suffering of a people that have endured fifty years of oppression and denial of their right to self-determination and freedom.

Spanish media reported that the exhibition features 49 artworks created by students from the Daina-Isard cooperative in the city of Olesa de Montserrat, supported by the Bubisher network of libraries and mobile libraries operating in Sahrawi refugee camps.

The exhibition also features selections from the visual memory of the Sahrawi people, which is a documentary project by the Alouda Cantabria association that recovers and preserves photographs taken before, during, and after the colonial period.

In his opening remarks, the Parliament President condemned the human rights abuses suffered by the Sahrawi people, underlining that “a just and lasting peace in our region cannot be built by rewarding territorial expansion and land seizure through force. It can only be achieved by upholding the fundamental principles of international law, notably the inalienable right of peoples to self-determination, carried out freely, impartially and transparently, without any external interference.” He wrapped up his remarks by stressing “the need to make special efforts to highlight the unjust conditions faced by the Sahrawi people.” He encouraged the audience to visit the exhibition and learn more about history, adding: “We’re talking about human rights and the right to self-determination (..) peace and freedom for the Sahrawi people.”